Appliance mounting bracket and locking means therefor



H. W. DARR Dec. 27, 1960 APPLIANCE MOUNTING BRACKET AND LOCKING MEANS THEREFOR Filed July 17, 1958 INVENTOR Mnow WDARR A T TORNEY-S United States Patent 1 2,966,323 APPLIANCE MOUNTING BRACKET AND LOCKING MEANS THEREFOR Harold W. Darr, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Harold B. Shapira, St. Paul, Minn. Filed July 17, 1958, Ser. No. 749,215 1 Claim. (Cl. 248-203) My invention relates generally to locking devices for wall brackets, and more particularly to locking devices for conventional tapered tongue and groove wall brackets of the type commonly used to mount relatively small household appliances upon vertical supports.

In mounting brackets of the type immediately above described a mounting plate defining a groove having converging side portions is secured to a wall or other vertical support and the cooperating tongue is carried by the appliance, thus permitting ready attachment and detachment of the appliance to the vertical support as desired. However, such wall brackets have, heretofore, been unsatisfactory for relatively permanent attachment of appliances and the like to walls in public places.

The primary object of my invention is the provision of inexpensive and highly efiicient locking means for wall brackets of the type immediately above described which will render said wall brackets entirely satisfactory for use in permanently attaching appliances, such as soap dispensers, to the walls in public places.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a device of the class described in which the locking mechanism is extremely easy to operate but which is so concealed as to almost totally discourage tampering or removal of the appliance from the wall against the will of the owner.

The above and still further objects of my invention will become apparent from the following detailed specification, appended claim and attached drawings.

Referring to the drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a view in top plan;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view in vertical section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in perspective of my novel device, the dotted lines thereof representing an exploded view.

Referring with greater particularity to the drawings the numeral 1 indicates in its entirety a mounting plate formed from sheet metal or the like and having a plurality of spaced apertures 2 thereon for reception of screws or the like for securing same to a wall or other vertical support. Opposite side edge portions of the mounting plate 1 are backturned to provide opposed lips 3 forwardly of the plane of the plate 1 and which with the plate 1 define opposed grooves 4.

My novel appliance, shown as being a liquid soap dispenser identified in its entirety by the numeral 5, has a vertical rear wall portion 6 which defines a rearwardly projecting downwardly extended tongue 7, shown as being in the nature of laterally spaced vertical bars 8 for the purpose of saving of material. As shown, the opposite side edge portions of the tongue 7 are undercut as at 8a to define tongue elements 9 adapted to be received within the grooves 4 when vertically aligned therewith. It will also be noted that the tongue elements 9 are spaced laterally inwardly from the marginal side edges 6a of the vertical rear wall portion 6, for a purpose which will hereinafter be explained further in detail.

As shown particularly in Fig. 2 the opposed edges 10 of the lips 3 converge downwardly as do the seat-forming inner surfaces 11 of the undercut side edge portions 8a of the tongue 7. By this conventional arrangement it 2,966,323 Patented Dec. 27, 1960 is obvious that downward movement of the dispenser 5 with respect to the mounting plate 1 is terminated by engagement of the surfaces 10, 11.

As shown particularly in Figs. 2 and 3 the tongue 7 is formed to provide a horizontally extended slot 12 intermediate its upper and lower ends. The mounting plate 1 on the other hand is formed to provide an aperture 13 which opens laterally through one of the grooves 4 and is alignable with one end of the slot 12 when the tongue elements 9 are received in the grooves 4 with the converging surfaces 10, 11 in contact with each other.

An elongated key 14, preferably and as shown formed from flat thin metal stock, is snugly slidably receivable in the aligned slot 12 in the tongue 7 and aperture 13 in the mounting plate. The outer end of the key 14 is backturned upon itself to provide an enlarged relatively flat U-shaped head 15 which is adapted to be totally movable inwardly of the adjacent marginal edge 6a of the vertical rear wall portion 6 of the dispenser 5. By this novel arrangement, the key 14 not being visible to the casual observer, tampering and removal of the dispenser 5 from the mounting plate 1 is discouraged, if not almost entirely eliminated. However, if and when it becomes desirable to remove the dispenser 5' from the mounting plate 1, this may be accomplished merely by inserting a narrow tool, such as a screwdriver A, into the U-shaped head 15, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4.

My invention has been thoroughly tested and found to be completely satisfactory for the accomplishment of the above objects, and while I have described a preferred embodiment thereof, I wish it to be specifically understood that same may well be capable of modification without departure from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth in the following claim.

What I claim is:

In a device of the class described, a mounting plate adapted to be secured to a vertical support and defining a pair of laterally spaced opposed grooves, an appliance element having a generally vertical back wall portion and defining a rearwardly projecting downwardly extended tongue the opposite side edge portions of which are adapted to be received in said grooves, opposite sides of said tongue and said groove defining cooperating downwardly converging portions which limit downward movement of said appliance with respect to said mounting plate, the longitudinally intermediate portion of said tongue being formed to provide a horizontally extended rearwardly opening slot, said mounting plate defining an aperture which opens laterally through one of said grooves and is alignable with one end of said slot when said tongue is moved in said grooves to its limit in a downward direction, and an elongated key formed from flat sheet metal stock insertable through said opening and into said slot, said tongue being spaced laterally inwardly from the marginal edges of said back wall portion, said key being backturned at its rear end to form a U for the reception of a key withdrawing tool, and said key being totally movable behind said back wall portion when said key is in operative position in said aperture and slot.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 751,009 Puterbaugh Feb. 2, 1904 1,177,232 Chisholm Mar. 28, 1916 1,246,749 Joiner Nov. 13, 1917 1,798,815 Shepard Mar. 31, 1931 1,814,854 Ringwald July 14, 1931 2,248,410 Moeller July 8, 1941 2,778,370 Chamblee Jan. 22, 1957 2,897,928 Selig Aug. 4, 1959 

